Talk:Criticism of the Inheritance Cycle
Positive Criticism For Critics and Fans both I strongly suggest you read Ayn Rands 'The Art of Fiction'. While I am a fan of Paolini my criticism of his writing comes from not explaining the thought processes well enough in the first book. However while this is my main criticism it is meant purely as a suggesting as a way to improve his writing should he choose to take it. Considering the boy was only 15 when he wrote the book he did a mighty fine job. As for his similarities with other writers I could come up with a list of a half dozen writers who are all exactly alike and yet unique. As C.S. Lewis says it is the man who does not try to be unique who becomes the most unique. As far as the realness of characters in the book my criticism of Paolini's second and third book are that he made each of the Characters too real. Yes the plot and development were good indeed but I hope he returns to a more fantastic Character design. A Character in a story should not be like real men ordinary and dull they should be fantastic people who though not real we want to emulate. My final criticism is that of the promotion of altruism. In my mind when I read the book Eragon's words of altruism seem to completely contradict his character its a break between what the character says and what he does. For example Eragon speaks of "the greater good" as though what is good for Eragon is not good for everyone. I suggest (and this is just a suggestion)that Paolini move away from the imposed altruist theme and move to a make the book more fluid by explaining a hierarchy of values e.g. Eragon fights to over throw the King not out of altruist motives but rather because Eragon does not find live worth living as a slave (by name or not), Thus Eragon fights for Truth, Justice, and Freedom because it is the right thing and He benefits from in more than anyone else not inspite of everyone else. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Pyranima (Talk ▪ ▪ ) 03:06, February 22, 2009. Please sign your comments with ~~~~. :Also this page should not be deleted it should be edited as the defenses come across as emotional sometimes rather than logical(though that they are just the emotions bleed through) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Pyranima (Talk ▪ ▪ ) 03:07, February 22, 2009. Please sign your comments with ~~~~. ::Started! Started! He was 15 when he started! It took him several years to finish it! Remember these facts, please! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 99.249.16.177 (Talk ▪ ▪ ) 12:01, August 10, 2009. Please sign your comments with ~~~~. :::"A Character in a story should not be like real men ordinary and dull they should be fantastic people who though not real we want to emulate." -- Really?! I don't really see any of the characters from Inheritance and "ordinary and dull," and if there were one, I think that it would be a good thing. We are immersed in this fantasy world, and everything should be perfect, I get it. But, I think that having some imperfections somewhere, be it in a person's character or the character itself, is a good thing. Nothing can ever be perfect, it would make for one hell of a bland story. Can you imagine Eragon being this: "Arya found Eragon living with Brom and Selena, gave the egg to him and Saphira hatched. Months and years passed with no ill effects, and when Saphira and Eragon were big and strong enough, they marched right over to Galbatorix and killed him without harm or injury to themselves." Even that doesn't make sense, because in the perfect fantasy, Galbatorix wouldn't have turned on this fellow dragon riders. Long story short, having some dull, bland, ordinary characters is healthy for a story and it's development. Fallen62 14:32, September 11, 2009 (UTC) ::::I whole heartedly agree with Fallen62. Making the charaters like real people, with faults, talents etc., makes the story more a live. If all the characters were perfect, their would be nothing for them to overcome. No conflicts, no battles, no nothing. ~Huthvir —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Huthvir (Talk ▪ ▪ ) 23:20, January 16, 2010. Please sign your comments with ~~~~. Copying other works Sooooo obviously Inheritance has many references to LOTR, Star Wars etc. But as much as I like those stories, CP has mushed them all together and added some original stuff, and made this awesome NOVEL-MUSHBALL thats like 10x better than its parts. So instead of criticising it from what it is from, why not appreciate it for what it is? If you hate the relations to Star Wars, stop criticising Eragon and watch Star Wars! What matters is its cool to read, again and again, and its a great story: Action, violence, vengeance, mystery, romance, suspense, what more can one want in a series written by a teenager!!!! Eragon-Eldest-Brisingr-Book 4 FTW!!! Mister Evis 07:13, 25 July 2009 (UTC) :Ten times better? My dear, illiterate sir (or possibly madam, I can't really tell) I really must object. I came to Eragon at the age of ten. I am now fifteen myself, and writing a novel of my own, which I hope I will one day publish. I had never seen the Star Wars films, despite my dad's valiant efforts to get me to do so, and I was halfway through the Lord of the Rings And I was disgusted by the books nonetheless. It is not because of plagarism (as already stated, I had never seen the films which it so blatantly plagarises) and very little of what Paolini has added could be considered 'original'. The first part of this was Paolini's writing style. No matter what he might aim for, the end result is purple prose that would cause even the dreaded (and dreadul) Stephenie Meyer to wince, and inordinately flat characterisation. As for the 'mystery' and 'romance' you are currently lauding...I must confess I found very little of either in Paolini's work. There is no real moral ambiguity, no question of who and how and why. We are all fully aware from the get-go of who the designated hero and villain are, and we are all yet again aware from the beginning of the likely end result, thus negating the element of suspense. Oh, I will admit to liking a few minor touches - I certainly appreciated the hammer pendant used as a protection from scrying in a (likely unintentional) callback to the Norse Thor's hammer amulet - but the overall work is hardly a masterpiece. Eragon's 'romance' with the elf Arya appears to be based entirely around the pursuit of a woman who has made her disinterest quite clear, expressly against her wishes, and based entirely around physical attraction. The elven culture is somewhat nonsensical, and I would appreciate a more reasonable portrayal - why, for example, is Oromis, a seasoned killer of men, so loathe to allow his student to eat meat? I understand vegetarian viewpoints, however, when hearing about the massacre of small logging towns wherein presumably harmless woodsmen, women and children were slaughtered without mercy by the elves merely for doing their jobs on the order of their ruler, no matter what his morality, I feel that, if you are going to mourn the deaths of ants, you may as well mourn human death as well. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Onlysaneman (Talk ▪ ▪ ) 16:33, October 13, 2010. Please sign your comments with ~~~~. ::If people don't like the books, why do they read them? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 98.227.201.126 (Talk ▪ ▪ ) 12:02, July 28, 2009. Please sign your comments with ~~~~. :::Word of mouth? But seriously, people who don't like bad things happening to other people can still look at a car wreck and talk about how bad it was with others. And people who don't like what they think are bad books can still read things they don't like and have an opinion that reflects their stance based on it, and are fully entitled to share that opinion. That's the premise of this Wikia, isn't it? To share your love of a series with others in the form of information? Shdwlink1993 04:05, September 9, 2009 (UTC) ::::Why does CP have to mashup others' work. Can't he do something original. I know there are only x number of stories in the world, but there are n number of ways one can tell it. He ould have taken Star Wars and make it into something TOTALLY different, like Harry Potter. But no, he has to take Star Wars, add Tolkien and present it as is. incredisuper 17:45, April 24, 2010 (UTC) Homage and plagiarism I think we need to look at what exactly an homage is and what exactly plagiarism is with the "homage" section. I mean having a similar name is nothing bad and can serve as an homage in itself, but when it's letter for letter, then you have to start looking a little closer. --Zervziel 20:38, May 11, 2010 (UTC) Really? I mean come on people he was 15 when he wrote it! Even J.K Rowling probably has a few inconcistencies and she is way older (no offense intended) than Mr. Paolini and she probably has more experience. I mean it's a'' FANTASY'' book and so what if the Ancient language language has no grammatical structure according to some people it is a book! Who cares? It is meant for amusement and entertainment! Drago99 Boom,Boom,Boom. Bad guys dead, you happy?? 16:46, July 17, 2010 (UTC) :Ah, I think you need one of these: In which the Wyvern provides readers with a fair and unbiased view of the Anti-Shurtugal movement... :--Wyvern Rex. 18:56, July 17, 2010 (UTC) Neutrality Dispute Exactly what aspects of this article are still in dispute in regards to neutrality? Personally, considering that this Wiki is written by fans of the Inheritance Cycle for fans of the Inheritance Cycle, I think it provides a pretty good summary of the criticisms leveled against the series without being overly critical in turn of those who have made those criticisms. But if there are still aspects that need work in this area, then they should be identified and corrected. Otherwise, if the article is currently okay in this regard, then the tag can be removed. Agent0042 01:05, September 22, 2010 (UTC) Let your mind dwell on these things Guys just don't worry. These are fan boys who are addled by simple terms. Christopher created a world. It is his and his alone. He is a terrific writer. An author I would love to talk to. He the sales prove that he writes well. He is comparable to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Tolkien and Clive Stapled Lewis. I find these arguments made by people who are too stupid and blinded by their jealousy. Oh and please sign with (Kajalamorth 22:32, September 23, 2010 (UTC)) -This is a different person from the person above. If you wish to reach me, oh well. -There are flaws in your argument. -Sales do not prove that someone writes well. For example: Twilight, the Joy Luck Club, any trashy romance novel. This argument is a version of an Ad Populum argument, which is a fallacy. -"Too stupid" is not a counterargument and does not invalidate any criticism. Instead, it makes you look unreasonable. -Critics are not motivated by jealousy. Were Siskel and Ebert jealous of every bad movie they ever reviewed? Is MST3K bloated with jealousy? :He's really not in the same league as Tolkien or Doyle, not even close, he's a some what decent writer, but his work isn't going to be rembered years down the road, you know why? It's incredably similiar to other works, people will rember the orginals, not the copys. He didn't create his own world, it's an almost exact copy of Middle earth with Star Wars plot line, and is in truth unorginal and if you can't see it maybe you're the one who's being blinded, anyone familiar with his "works" would see what he's taken from other writers. And to be honest his work is border line copying plot and characters from other works. You would honastly be hard pressed to find somthing in his work that hasn't already been written by someone else. And the fact his parnet published his work doesn't help his case as a skilled writer.Croc117 07:20, November 11, 2010 (UTC) :::"You would honastly sic be hard pressed to find somthing sic in his work that hasn't already been written by someone else." :::*"Nothing escapes you, does it?" "Let it escape. I concern myself only with things that exist." :::*"It occurred to Eragon that although the dwarves were the shortest of the races, they built the biggest structures in Alagaësia, which seemed odd to him. Perhaps, he thought, by making such enormous objects, they do not feel so small themselves. He almost mentioned his theory to Orik but at the last moment decided that it might offend him, so he held his tongue." :::The Star Wars / copy argument is old and stale. Anyone that would further attempt to use it is hereby assigned to read The Secret History of Star Wars and may not continue with it until they have finished reading that book. :::The flaw of your argument is that while some of the grand strokes and basic plotlines of which Paolini writes are familiar ("The Hero's Journey"), the actual style of the writing does contain originality. :::Oh, and as for history's judgment, that may have to wait until Book IV. But riddle me this:; will the readers of the series have children, and will they recommend these books to their children? If so, then you may have your answer. Agent0042 13:55, November 11, 2010 (UTC) ::::The problm isn't that it' using the hero's journy like the Star Wars, it's that it adds nothing new. It's fine to use i as a base but The Inheritance series adds nothing to it. ::::Read this http://swankivy.com/writing/essays/info/inheritance/eragon.html all argumnt are sound and true. You may not agree with it, but all it's points are solid. ::::and you'll see what's eally wrong with his writing. I dare say that History's judgement has been made, his writing has not improved from book 1 to 3. The 3rd book is rally part of the fourth, they were orginaly goingto be one book but was split up. Whe the book may be read to children by there parents, that's not the same way Tolkiens works are rembered. The books are fine for kids who don't really know any better or can't read higher level books, but there definalty not going to be considered amoun the timeless classics. ::::I'd also like to add that comparing Paolini to Doyle, Tolkien or Lewis is an insult to the distingushed writers.Croc117 01:21, November 14, 2010 (UTC) :::::i honastly think that the Inheritance cycle could if been a good seris if Paolini had waited until he was older, had better writing skills and had made it more orginal. But he didn't, he had it published by his parents and was pulling off the popularity of fantasy at thetime to make sales. As of right now it's a mediocre series of books at best.Croc117 01:25, November 14, 2010 (UTC) ::::::Firstly, let's agree that no writer is perfect (except possibly Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett and Kurt Vonnegut). ::::::#Doyle actively disliked writing Sherlock Holmes and attempted to "retire" him several times, so he didn't seem to enjoy it in the way that he enjoyed writing the improbable "Professor Challenger" novels, of which only "The Lost World" has retained popularity. ::::::#Tolkien likewise felt that "The Hobbit" was derivative of Norse Mythology. Can you name any truly new plot devices in "The Hobbit" which had not appeared in some form in the Viking texts? He was permenantly unhappy with the main trilogy (which retains a number of errors, most famously regarding the Eagles) and the books published after his death were mostly the work of his son. ::::::#C. S. Lewis used excessively traditional Christian themes to the extent that they interfered with the plot. Even the devout Tolkien felt this, and changed his books to avoid it. ::::::Certainly, there was at that time a gap in the market for fantasy. Tolkien was dead, and had been since 1972. It is hardly fair to compare Paolini with a world-class "Oxbridge" professor of Philology, but there no longer is a world-class "Oxbridge" professor of Philology writing fantasy. My decision to cease supporting the Anti-Shurt'ugal side was partly pragmatic. Yes, once there was an originator named Tolkien but he is no more. Sci-fi and fantasy can't afford to stagnate with past memories. Problematically, there are few fantasy writers these days. Sci-fi fans can (and do) read Iain M. Banks, Peter F. Hamilton and Alastair Reynolds. However, if you don't want to read the odious torrent of vampire fiction you can get used to (and maybe like) Paolini. My suggestion is that you read the "Repairman Jack" series or "The Keep", both by F. Paul Wilson. It is an urban kind of fantasy, completely different from Tolkien. I am afraid that the natural tendency to compare with Tolkien leads to the major Anti-Shurt'ugal dispute. PS: thankyou for explaining the reversion.--Wyvern Rex. 10:09, November 14, 2010 (UTC) 'Fun' Warfare In Eldest and Brisingr it repeatly talks about how both Eragon and Roran feel terrible about killing men that probably had families of their own. Also in Eldest Orisimo asks Eragon to explain why when fighting the Empire will cost many lives is worth it. That shows that he dosen't think war is fun. PhilliesGo Phillies!!!﻿ :The "fun" warfare criticism is bogus for the reasons you stated and more. It's ridiculous, really, plenty of time is spent explaining why war isn't glorious. Agent0042 13:12, November 14, 2010 (UTC) Several Major Inconsistencies Worth Noting on a whim, i picked up my copies of Eldest and Brisingr and read through them again. Each time i read through them, i am more disappointed by them. i will only read Inheiritance to complete the series, and i may only borrow it from a local library instead of spending my money on it. this is due to several major inconsistencies that have not been listed in the main article. another is the blatant disrespect for blacksmith masters in the real world. and i have to mention a little bit about basic navigation as well. inconsistency 1: i can accept that Eragon has to swear fealty to a variety of sources. both he and Saphira cannot afford to alienate the Varden, the dwarves or the elves. but Nasuada is unwilling to let them return to the elves to complete their training (hmmm... another Star Wars reference? Return of the Jedi, anyone?). on the other hand, she insists that he has to be the one to go to the dwarves to help them pick out a new king. sorry - i have a little bit of trouble with this one. she is committed to deposing Galbatorix. considering Eragon has failed to subdue/kill Murtagh in their first two encounters and Galbatorix is supposed to be even more powerful (i believe godlike was used in one reference to him), her priorities are a little messed up. even with the help of 13 elven mages (ironic, given the number of Forsworn who followed Galbatorix), his training is sorely lacking - get him to help, or get ready for a long a bloody war with your death at the end of it. speaking of incomplete training... that's another Star Wars reference and bit of copying: Eragon receives his incomplete training and rushes off to save his friends, then suffers a defeat and revelation at the hands of a family member in the second book. Luke Skywalker receives his incomplete training and rushes off to save his friends, then suffers a defeat and revelation at the hands of a family member in the second movie. inconsistency 2: Eragon is a vegetarian... but no he's not... but yes he is... To Walk The Land Alone - Brisingr: Perhaps, he mused, perhaps when I return... if I am at Nasuada's table, or King Orrin's, and meat is served... perhaps, if i feel like it and it would be rude to refuse, I might have a few bites... I won't eat the way I used to, but neither shall I be as strict as the elves. Moderation is a wiser policy that zealotry, I think. '' ok, let's accept that at face value. but in Footprints of Shadow, he comes close to puking his guts out because he can't stand the necessity of butchering animals despite his need for energy derived from the life force of living creatures (insert another Star Wars reference here. if it isn't obvious, you shouldn't be reading this at all). and in the chapter immediately following, he partakes of meat not once, but ''twice! in the middle of the forest, with a Kull he insults by asking if they eat meat raw!!! and he doesn't appear to have any issues with doing so, unlike the two pages prior to his moderation policy quoted above. inconsistency 3: Eragon's age. Eragon is a teenager at the start of the series, 15 or 16. Even with Morzan's death only 17 years ago, that puts Selena outside the 1 year window framed for her death of illness or broken heart (Padme, anyone? remember, Selena thought Brom was killed during the failed theft). inconsistency 4: various character behavior: Eragon acts like a typical teenager. in the modern day. he reminds me of... Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strike Back. impatient, headstrong, reckless were all words used to describe Eragon. those words were also used to describe Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars novels. but Eragon only seems to act like that half the time. the other half, he acts like a grown adult with years of experience and wisdom. his decision to not execute Sloan is a perfect example - in a blatant disregard for his own safety and well being, he orders Saphira to leave him behind and rescues Sloan. his eventual plan to redeem Sloan speaks of many years of experience with making life-atering decisions. his little lie about Sloan ("They broke his neck") was also dispelled when he tells Roran "If you trust me, Roran, never ask me that question again." his reaction in Ellesméra about Morzan being his father is an exceedingly weak version of Harry Potter's tirade at the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix after Sirius dies. and his acceptance and inner peace were established much too quickly given the towering rage he was in. Harry had the decency to remain angry with Dumbledore for quite some time. there are numerous inconsistencies about Eragon's behavior that i could carry on about and would not cover half of what exists. Glaedr - for a being of immense power, age, wisdom and experience, and who acts quite angry on several occasions, he allows Eragon to rant at Oromis about his parentage for far too long. Glaedr cut Eragon and Saphira off several times due to their impertinence, and now Eragon was yelling at them. i would have believed a simple Silence! ''would have sufficed, shut Eragon up (because the boy is clearly in such awe of his presence that he would shout at his rider), and allowed Oromis to continue explaining after a rather rude interruption. oh, yes, and let's not forget Eragon also had the gall to ask if Glaedr still had his Eldunarí and was effectively told to back off, but less than 2 days later was entrusted with the same. Oromis - he is both the patient master and immovable object. Oromis actually reminds me more of Mazer Rackham from Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. the only difference is Mazer did a much better job of pretending to not care about Ender. Oromis pretended to care, but did little to actually prepare Eragon to face down Galbatorix. at least until the Blood Oath Festival. despite not knowing about Eragon's cure, he forced him to suffer through the training and anguish of his scar and disability, then effectively says "There's nothing more i can teach you that you don't already know, but i was going to send you off to the Burning Plains with just enough knowledge that you have to come back, because i don't want to give everything away yet, and i was going to send you off in a couple more days, because it was imperitive that you stay here instead of rushing off on your own." Wait - what!? try this again? he didn't want Eragon to know that the Varden needed him for a couple more days because they still had time, but there's nothing more to be taught, but there ''is more he can learn, but he can't tell Eragon all of this information quite yet. furthermore, a couple more days would have had Eragon arrive after the battle. Saphira and Eragon arrived with 12 - 18 hours to spare before the battle. if they had left Ellesméra even 24 hours later, they would have arrived after the battle. Oromis said they expected a missive from Nasuada in the next few days (3 to 5 is the definition of few) - i think the words "too little, too late" describe this behavior. yet Oromis still felt the need to keep Eragon in Ellesméra. Elva and Birgit - let's see... we're going to threaten a Dragon Rider with revenge (or his cousin), but continue to play nice to his dragon (or his fiance/wife), and expect Eragon to not be distracted by his cousin's sudden death. yeah, i don't think so. Elva's continued thanks to Saphira for the mark on her brow is completely contradicted by her threat for restitution by Eragon. and from all appearances, Saphira just takes it in stride. "oh, you're welcome little one, i was glad to help, and, by the way, it's ok to continue to threaten my Rider in vague but disturbing terms, for making a mistake." yeah... right. and Elva's lack of reaction to Saphira's growl was completely out of character. Birgit, on the other hand, has no problem starting a blood fued with the last free Rider's only surviving family. what's more, is she has continued to threaten him! ok - she started the blood fued with him back in Carvahall before the whole "last free Rider" info was available. but her stalking of Roran in the Varden encampment was out of place - he had killed the Ra'zac, and the conditions for her repayment were due. she should have attacked him then. but she did not, and further represented Roran's fiance/wife at the wedding ceremony! Roran - his acceptance of Birgit's continued death threat is a little much to take. his understanding in Carvahall is believable - he didn't have all of the information at the time. his calm understanding and acceptance once the Ra'zac were dead are not understandable. i may not understand everything about blood fueds, but i believe the words "extenuating circumstances" apply here. i also believe (correct me if i'm wrong) that blood fueds apply to everyone in Roran's family. therefore, Eragon has an obligation to defend Roran from Birgit's attack(s). someone may want to mention this to her before she does something outrageous. Saphira - she is surprisingly consistent with one notable lack: Elva. if someone threatens Eragon, she's right there, offering to rend them limb from limb. except this little girl, who apparently represents such a grave threat that she freaks everyone except Angela the herbalist out. now, i don't expect that Saphira would threaten a child with immediate physical or mental harm. but Saphira might want to mention the whole losing-your-Rider-can-really-upset-a-Dragon-if-not-drive-them-insane thing to Elva at some point in the relatively near future. like before she decides to hurt Eragon. it should be noted that the subject of Saphira's and Eragon's mental bond has, in my opinion, been beaten to death. with a stick. a large stick. a large stick with several pointy things sticking out of it. we get it - they share a relationship closer than two regular human beings. they share a relationship that hurts when they are not together. they share emotions that appear to feed off each other. they are happy in each other's presence. stop forcing it down our throats. we don't need another description of how much they support each other, how much they missed each other, how happy they are together at the beginning of every chapter they both happen to be in. King Orrin - for a guy who was apparently eccentric in Eldest, he sure did get a reality check in Brisingr. quite frankly, i can believe that someone was working on scientific research, with or without the assistance of magic. and i find it amusing that he had almost blown himself up once or twice in Eldest, using his experiments. but he was no longer amusing in Brisingr. i kind of enjoyed his edge in Brisingr - he was understandably upset with Nasuada for her behavior with the Urgal (end of Eldest), her people (Trial of the Long Knives) and greeting the elves in Brisingr. but pick one character please. Nasuada - her response to King Orrin's complaint (listed above) seems to imply a lack of forethought in her actions due to her inexperience as a leader. yet she responds that everything that drives her is to improve the Varden's situation. her very explanation implies she has been expecting King Orrin's complaint for some time - it is a well thought out, reasoned, rational argument that actually adressed each one of his complaints specifically. either she is a political mastermind the like of which this world (and the real world) has never seen or she is about 50 steps ahead of everyone else in the book. Nasuada was also able to predict the effect various people (Eragon, Roran) would have on various political and military situations, despite her lack of experience. she sent Eragon to the dwarves to help them pick a new king. she consulted with Roran on more than one occasion about military matters, despite needing him to prove himself to her. the final contradiction in her behavior was in ordering Roran's flogging. floggings occured in the armies of the past for situations similar to what Roran was forced to do. she believed that he needed to be punished to set an example. yet, had Eragon been present, it would probably have proven to be a disastrous decision, because Eragon and Saphira would never have allowed it to occur - and no oath of fealty would have allowed him to stand by and let his cousin be flogged. so the very thing she wished to avoid (him breaking his oath, as mentioned before he left for the dwarves) would have occured had she gotten her way - Eragon with the Varden instead of in Ellesméra. furthermore, she had testimony from other soldiers pertaining to Roran's "insubordination." given that the Varden are apparently stretched so thin for armed men that Edric can lead his entire command to their deaths, Roran's actions to conserve men deserve 50 lashes. no. i said that floggings occured. but an army that was hard pressed for men would never have flogged a man that saved as many men as Roran did. the captain would have been stripped of rank (Edric was... eventually), the insubordinate soldier would have been given a stiff warning, and the insubordinate soldier would be watched closely to see if he was willing to disregard orders simply because he got away with it or because the situation demanded it. on a side note, Roran's stand at the village in Surda is a blatant copy of the legendary Battle of Thermopylae, as well as Gandalf's stand against the Baalrog in the Mines of Moria (Lord of the Rings), and Ganner Rhysode's stand against the Yuuzhan Vong at the Well of the World Brain (Star Wars, Traitor). a numerically and technologically/magically superior foe was funnelled into a narrow pass, thus removing their numerical advantage, and forced/ challeneged to fight using their blades, eliminating their technological advantage (the crossbows). Eragon's sword, Brisingr... what Rhunön and Eragon did in 24 hours is forge a katana, as forged by the masters in Japan to this day. i strongly suggest watching a documentary about how they forge their swords and then try to imagine compressing all of their hard work and effort down into a single day. and then give only one person that knowledge in the world, and it happens to be the same person who forged every single other blade for the Riders. no heirs, no passing of the knowledge from one person to another, no improvement on that technique until Eragon comes along. and, in addition, she doesn't even do the work, she uses Eragon's body (ok, i'll accept the oath... for now), with which she is not familiar, and even confesses to his body being awkward. yeah, i don't think so. finally navigation. and he has no one to blame but himself for this one. take a look at the map in all of the books. even accounting for a mercator projection, Saphira's flight from Ellesméra to the Burning Plains (Eldest) and Feinster (Brisingr) carry him within line of sight of Urû'baen. for all they are trying to avoid Galbatorix, Saphira and Eragon really don't try to avoid the city. they fly over it twice, and at altitude, because they don't want someone reporting a dragon to the mad king. like i said. i'm going to finish the series, just because i started it. but i'm still waiting for the deus ex machina to rear its ugly head and turn what is already an uninspired series of copyright infringements into a complete disaster. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.59.76.63 (Talk ▪ ▪ ) 10:19, June 8, 2011. Please sign your comments with ~~~~. :Copyright Infringments? If there had been any real case he would have been got by George Lucas long before now! --Gilderien Talk| 21:04, June 11, 2011 (UTC) My problems with books Hi, firstly have too say i liked the books but i had three issues with books: '''1.)MAGIC: '''Magic was designed good, but problem it was that it was too easy too cast i think it should demand much more energy too cast. In my point of view magic should be used rarely and in combat as last resort and death words should have huge cost for using it even if they use external source of energy(gems and eldunari) caster should be weak after using magic. '''2.)ELVES: '''They were owerpowered i agree they should be stronger and faster than human, but not ridiculously like in books so in my view they should be nerfed. This one is confusing me they cant eat or kill animals, but they can kill humans and urgals. '''3.)DEUS EX MACHINA: '''There were two cases of using it that bothered me: -Blood-oath celebration: Eragon becoming hybrid really bothered me and in my view it was a cheat, ok scar healing wasnt problem but becoming a hybrid was. - Vault of Souls: it kinda killed the intresting strugle too restart dragon race and dragon riders order. Lovec1990 (talk) 08:14, May 25, 2014 (UTC) Royal/Imperial inconsistency Even though Galbatorix rules an empire, he is only referred to as being a king and not an emperor. Likewise there isn't consistency in use of Royal or Imperial (and derivative terms of each) in description. E.g. The Imperial Army yet Galbatorix is still only King. Jdogno7 (talk) 07:35, October 17, 2014 (UTC)